To snek – or not to snek? The original Head Witch in Charge is back in charge with her giant monster-snek body. However, her standard High Oracle form is nothing to sneeze it, and sometimes it might be better to wait to unleash the Beast.

Here are 5 reasons why it might be better to hold off transforming her for at least a turn or two:

Spellcasting – Morathi can cast 3 spells every turn, which is a pretty big deal considering most armies will only be able to dispel one or two a turn. Put her on a Balewind and she can instead cast 4, with a +1 to cast and a staggering 42” range on most spells, putting her well outside dispel range.

Assassin – Morathi’s signature spell, Arnzipal’s Black Horror, is a fantastic way to severely cripple or, in some cases, remove a pesky model. When she casts, whatever unit she picks suffers either 1, d3, or d6 mortal wounds, getting around heavy armor and Look Out, Sir rolls. And again, since all her spells double range, she is probably outside the range where your opponent can do anything about it but hope for a low roll.

Combat – Unlike most other casting focused characters, Morathi is no slouch in the Combat phase. With 3 attacks from her spear and 6 from her wings, all hitting and wounding on a 3+, she can lay down a withering amount of damage. When your opponent tries to strike back, they take -1 to their hit rolls thanks to her Enchanting Beauty rule, making it even harder to take her down.

Survivability – In addition to Enchanting Beauty, Morathi has the Iron Heart of Khaine, meaning she can never take more than 3 wounds of any kind per turn. So even if your opponent can somehow breakthrough your lines and smack Morathi, she can never be wiped out in a single turn. Which brings me to the hidden threat…

Monster – If things have gone south for your army and you need a beatstick, Morathi can transform later, once her spellcasting is less useful. Her wounds carry over double, but she is still a force to be reckoned with, and it’s likely the unit that caused her change will be turned to stone or fine red mist in short order when she does. And just in case you still need the spellpower, Morathi carries over Arnzipal’s into her new body, meaning she can still snipe pesky characters.

~How do you like to run Morathi? Tell us about it in the comments below.